Ship

A missile strike damaged a merchant ship in the Red Sea off Yemen, marine security monitors said Friday, as the country's Iran-backed Huthi rebels threatened to expand their months-long harassment campaign which has disrupted global trade.

Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu has announced an uptick in maritime traffic through the country's straits in 2023.

In a written statement released on Feb. 16, the minister disclosed that 83,892 ships traversed the Turkish straits last year, marking an 8.2 percent increase compared to the preceding year.

In a concerning development for global trade, the Suez Canal has experienced a dramatic drop of more than 40% in traffic volume, attributed to repeated attacks by Yemen rebels on merchant ships. The United Nations, through data provided by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), expresses deep concerns about the implications of these disruptions on worldwide commerce.

All crew members of the Greek-owned oil tanker St Nikolas, which was seized on Thursday by the Iranian navy, anchored in Bandar Abbas, Iran, are reported to be in good health and safe, as was announced by the vessel's management company Empire Navigation. 

Greek shipping company Empire Navigation confirmed their well-being after contacting Iranian authorities. 

A Greek-managed merchant ship transporting grains was lightly damaged off the coast of Ukraine and was likely to have been hit by a floating sea mine, according to maritime specialists and a Ukrainian government source.

This is the latest incident affecting commercial ships sailing in the Black Sea.

Chinese-owned merchant ships have exceeded, in gross-tonnage, Greek-owned ones, Clarksons Research, the data and analytics arm of shipping brokers Clarksons, says. 

According to the research, Chinese-owned ships have a total gross-tonnage of 249.2 million GTs, followed by Greek (249 million), Japanese (181 million), South Korean (66 million) and US-owned ships (66 million). 

The Hellenic Coast Guard released a statement on Monday rejecting claims made by domestic and international media that the fishing vessel that was shipwrecked last week off the coast of the Peloponnese was stationary for several hours before capsizing.

The press office of Prime Minister Ioannis Sarmas issued a statement on Friday regarding the fatal sinking of a fishing vessel which was carrying migrants.

Here follows the statement in its entirety:

Italian authorities, after searching a Greek-owned vessel in Venice, found a large amount of cocaine, some 850 kg, worth about 150 million euros.

Trade Winds, which specializes in shipping, reported that the ship, the Atlas, which is under a Liberian flag, belongs to the Laskaridis Shipping company of the well-known Greek shipowner Panagiotis Laskaridis.

A record fine of 30 million Turkish Liras ($1.6 million) has been imposed on a tanker at the port in the northwestern province of Kocaeli due to leakage caused into the sea while transferring fuel oil.

The fuel overflowed into the sea due to the pressure while transferring it to the tanker named "Atacama," anchored in a port in the Körfez district.